Hollywood blockbusters producer Mario Kassar, whose works in the 1990s became a cult legend for action film geeks that time, has set his sights firmly on Asia.

Asia is actually not an unfamiliar region for Hollywood film producer Mario Kassar as a number of his blockbuster movies, including the Rambo franchise, were shot in Thailand.

However, this time around Kassar has come to the region not only to utilize its exotic locations as settings for upcoming movies but he also aims to finance and work with the region’s most exciting film industry talents.

Kassar said his decision to set his sights on the region’s talents as potential future investments and working partners came after he saw the impressive work ethics of the people in the region.  

“Not too long ago, I went to visit the ILM [Industrial Light & Magic], the special effects house in Singapore and a lot of the people there had worked for a lot of my movies,” the 65-year-old Lebanese-born producer told The Jakarta Post in an interview.

“I have seen that there are a lot of hardworking, bright people in this part of the world and they have all that energy while at the same time they are not very Hollywood-demanding in the sense that they put in the hours, they don’t complain so much. There is something that I found very interesting and creative. That tells you why I choose Asia.”

Indonesian director Randy Korompis will be the first Asian director to work with Kassar in the upcoming Foxtrot Six, a sci-fi action film set for 2018 release.

Kassar admitted that of all the Asian countries, he was the most unfamiliar with the works of the Indonesian movie industry.

The producer has only watched two Indonesian movies –The Raid and The Raid 2, both of which were also directed by a foreign director.

“Those are the only Indonesian films I have seen, but they gave me an idea that there is a lot of potential here. Even though it was directed by a foreigner, all the stunts, the choreography were all very well done and were made by Indonesians. If you did that movie in America, I’m not so sure you would get the same results,” Kassar says.

That was why when Guillaume Catala, one of the producers of Foxtrot Six, contacted Kassar and pitched the idea of producing a sci-fi film in Indonesia, he had no hesitation in saying yes to a meet-up and a presentation.

“He [Guillaume] called me and asked if I would be interested in some action movies with good characters and had to be shot in Indonesia,” Kassar said.

“I did not know a lot about Indonesia, but when I heard it I thought about Asia and I said I would like to read it [the script] first before I give any smart answer.”

He read it and he said he liked it very, very much.

“It (the script) was very well written. I asked [Guillaume] where the director was and he was actually in Los Angeles at that time. We met and spent hours talking about this idea and story and I was very impressed. He is a very talented guy. So I said yes to the project.”

Securing an agreement with Kassar was a very big deal for the team behind Foxtrot Six because it meant they would have A-level Hollywood budget type of financing at their disposal to produce the best action film as possible.

With a film portfolio that consists of the Rambo franchise, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Total Recall and Stargate, it is only to be expected that Kassar would pour big money into Foxtrot Six.

Rumors circulating around the Indonesian film industry suggest that Kassar might have invested at least US$10 million in Foxtrot Six, which would make the movie not only the most expensive in Indonesia but also in the Southeast Asian region.

Kassar played down the rumors, neither confirming nor denying them.

“I don’t discuss budget, but I can say that it is a very expensive movie. It is probably the most expensive action movie in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Kassar promised that despite the big budget, Foxtrot Six would not be a sci-fi action film that relied too heavily on flashy special effects.

Like his previous movies, he wanted the film to have a strong storyline and characters that engage the audience.

“When I did the Rambo movie, we barely used any special effects. My experience with special effects began in Terminator 2 and from there on, everything became too special effects-oriented,” he said.

He said he was sort of jaded with special effects as too many movies relied on them, leaving not much character, only machinery. “For a while it worked, but at the end of the day if you don’t have a story with these characters, then you don’t really have a good movie. It gets boring in my opinion,” he said.

“This movie Foxtrot Six is more organic. It will have effects for sure, but it is more organic. It is not only a movie about love, redemption and action. It is also a movie about people and about the fact of human life.”

— Photos Courtesy of Mario Kassar.com